Pre usada rich definitely beats Whittaker’s
Shit the old juiced UFC would slaughter today’s ufd
Lesnar that bulldozed herring would kill ngannous
Think ubereem
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Wow at Quarry taking a dive in the clip. I’ve watched it a million times now. His legs buckle and he’s on his toes like a Russian ballerina 
before Franklin actually connects. Somebody explain to me what I’m missing.
Franklin by KO. Easy.
LOL at Lesnar killing Ngannou. Lesnar wanted nothing to do with Cain’s striking. If Ngannou hits Lesnar one time, Lesnar runs around the cage and falls down, then proceeds to get beaten into a living death.
Whittaker. Eras are huge in MMA. Though Franklin did evolve a fair bit, he couldn’t even defend the clinch of Anderson when he was on a great run, already being champion at the time. Whittaker would have learnt that as a boy. Its a completely different ball game now…
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That’s Shamrock taking a dive, not Quarry
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Didnt he faked a takedown but actually went for takedown? 
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Absolutely agree. Franklin was among the last of the guys from the previous generation that came from one of the old school gyms in Miletitch and had to cross-train to make himself as well rounded as possible. You had to be hungry and be willing to seek the knowledge and travel to wherever the specialty was that you needed. His fighting career closed during the time when the all-purpose MMA gyms started coming into existence.
Franklin was one of my favorites except that I was legit pissed when he won the MW Title from Evan Tanner. Rich Franklins fight IQ was excellent in my opinion but he was almost always the larger more dominant fighter physically at MW. His athleticism and his stregnth probably would sneak up on an opponent.
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I think Franklin’s size and strength would make him a very hard opponent for Whittaker to handle.
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Whitaker beats Franklin
Whitaker vs trt Belfort would be another good matchup
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TRT Belfort would destroy Whittaker. I like Whittaker but TRT Belfort was on another level.
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I still remember that fight. Wtf happened there exactly?
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I agree with this entirely. I think Rich could beat Izzy.
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As I mentioned above, I’m one of the most vocal critics of the “evolution” narrative. But Franklin has neither the accomplishments at MW as Weidman, Izzy, or Whittaker, nor does he meet the eye test.
His best accomplishment at MW is a close fight with Hendo. Besides that, he has the destruction losses to Silva; and wins over Lutter, Okami, Macdonald, Tanner, Loiseau, and Quarry. That doesn’t come close to Weidman (Silva x 2, Machida, Belfort, Munoz); Rockhold (Machida, Bisping, Jacare, Weidman); Yoel (Machida, Kennedy, Weidman); Whittaker (Yoel x 2, Jacare); or Izzy (Costa, Marvin, Whittaker x 2).
He also doesn’t win the eye test. Only his power would really carry over to today. Watch him versus Chuck. It’s just not near the level of striking we see from Izzy or Knuckles.
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One of the problems Rich had was when he got hit hard it would really effect him. Not a heart or grit thing probably just physical structure.
Name his best win at MW.
Compare that to Robert’s best wins.
Get back to us. 
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Franklin was a UFC posterboy for both his good looks and clean life/attitude. He served a purpose and was definitely ahead of his time with regards to nutrition, training, and the like. Respect for that, but other than that, he wasn’t much of an athlete nor particularly great at any one aspect of MMA.
Rich couldn’t compete with the caliber of fighters in the UFC today. It’s as simple as that – the MW division was very different when Rich fought there, and the caliber of fighters, including wrestlers, has grown dramatically since Rich once held the belt. Nothing against him, and if anything, testament to how much the sport has grown.
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Rich had legit KO power, go watch his fight with Liddell. Whitaker is a volume puncher, Franklin would land a clean shot and put him out.
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Rich’s only KO’s in the UFC we’re Quarry and Chucks last UFC fight. Everyone knows chucks chin was absolutely gone at that point and before the punch Rich was getting beat up. If you study technique you know there is a major difference in rob and rich. Rich was the nicest fighter I’ve ever met and it’s weird to argue this but come on. Also rich learned to fight southpaw and went against his natural stance. Wonder if that hindered him in anyway.
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He was also a fricking school teacher